Air Ambulance From South America to the United States

Long range, and the aircraft choice is the whole decision

South America to the United States is a genuine long-range mission. Bogota to Miami is manageable in a midsize jet; Santiago, Buenos Aires or Sao Paulo to the United States is not, and anyone who quotes it as a single leg in a light jet is planning a fuel stop they have not told you about. Fuel stops are not a problem in themselves. Undisclosed ones are, because each stop is an hour on the ground with a critical patient and a crew duty clock running.

We tell you the routing, the stops and the total door-to-door time before you commit, and we match the aircraft to the distance and to the patient rather than to what happens to be available.

Where we fly from

Bogota, Medellin, Cartagena, Cali, Lima, Cusco, Quito, Guayaquil, Caracas, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Buenos Aires, Santiago, Montevideo, Asuncion, La Paz and Santa Cruz. Receiving hospitals are most often in Miami or Houston, with onward transfer where the patient needs a specific centre.

Altitude is a clinical problem on this corridor

Bogota sits at roughly 8,400 feet, Quito near 9,200, Cusco above 10,800 and La Paz above 13,300. A patient who is already hypoxic, anaemic, or recovering from a cardiac event is under physiological load before the aircraft moves, and the pressurisation profile of the flight itself adds to it. Transporting out of these cities is routine for us, but it is a medical planning exercise, not just a flight plan, and our medical director reviews these cases individually.

Documentation and permits

Overflight and landing permits across the continent take time, and several countries require them in advance with no same-day option. We hold the operational relationships to move quickly, but if a transport is being considered it is worth calling us before the decision is final rather than after, because the permit clock often starts earlier than the clinical one.

Free with qualifying insurance

If the plan qualifies and the transport is medically necessary, the flight costs the patient nothing out of pocket. We verify the benefits at no charge, we document medical necessity with the treating physician, we obtain the authorization before the aircraft is released, and we bill the insurer under a signed assignment of benefits.

Kaiser Permanente and Blue Cross Blue Shield are among the most straightforward plans we deal with on this corridor. Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, Humana and Anthem all cover medically necessary air ambulance under most plans. Federal and state employee plans and the large teacher plans tend to have the broadest benefits of any category. TRICARE covers it through the regional contractor or the Overseas Program.

Medicare and Medicaid do not pay for transport across an international border. Medical necessity must be documented by the treating physician before the aircraft is released.

Self-pay: one fixed price, agreed in writing

A large share of the people who call us have no coverage, or a plan that will not cover this route. We quote those flights as a single all-inclusive price before you commit: aircraft, flight crew, medical crew, equipment, ground ambulance at both ends, landing, handling and permits. One number. No post-flight invoice for extras, and no surprise balance.

We will also tell you when a medical escort on a commercial airline is clinically adequate for the patient. It costs a fraction of a dedicated aircraft, and recommending it when it fits costs us the larger sale, which is exactly why you can trust the recommendation.

For hospital case managers, administrators and discharge planners

If you are holding a patient who is medically stable, has no funding source and has nowhere to be discharged to, repatriation is usually the only discharge plan available to you. We run these transports constantly and we understand what you need: the bed released, the liability closed, and documentation that stands up to review.

We secure the receiving hospital bed in most of the countries we serve. A missing passport is not the blocker it is assumed to be. Mexico admits its own nationals as a constitutional right — Article 11 of the Mexican Constitution gives every person the right to enter the Republic without need of a safe-conduct, passport or similar requirement — so we repatriate patients there who hold no passport and no travel document at all. Where a destination does require one, we arrange the emergency travel document through the consulate. We locate relatives in the home country and obtain essential personal documents such as birth certificates when they are missing. We hold our own aircraft and our own ground ambulance capability rather than brokering them, which is why a receiving confirmation does not take days.

What we need from you: the current medical summary, the destination city or receiving facility, and whoever is authorizing the cost. What you get back the same day: a fixed quote, the aircraft and crew configuration, and a realistic departure window.

Where a commercial plan has no contracted operator able to fly the mission, we will negotiate a single-case agreement with the plan before departure. Case managers use these routinely and they are often the fastest route to an authorized, paid transport.

Where we fly

Each of these corridors has its own aircraft requirements, permit timelines and insurance pattern. The pages below set out what actually applies on each one.

Air ambulance Caribbean to the United States

Air ambulance Central America to the United States

Air ambulance Hawaii to the mainland United States

Air ambulance Canada and the United States, both directions

Air ambulance Asia to the United States

Air ambulance Europe to the United States and Canada

Licensing and authority

Jet Rescue Air Ambulance operates as Med Jets USA, Inc. under Florida Department of Health EMS Service Provider licence AIR9505, status clear, verifiable on the State of Florida public licence register. Jet Rescue Air Ambulance is an indirect air carrier. All flights are operated by FAA Part 135 certificated direct air carriers or their foreign equivalents.

Speak to a mission coordinator

You will reach a mission coordinator, not a call centre. Send the insurance card front and back, the patient name and date of birth, the hospital they are in, and a short description of the medical situation. The benefits review is free and carries no obligation.